Mind Your Language!
With Alan Fernihough, Eoin McLaughlin, and Philip Neary, I investigate why Irish fell into disuse in the nineteenth century by combining network game theory with micro-census data.
About me
I am a Reader in Economic History in the Department of Economics at Queen’s Business School (QBS), Queen’s University Belfast, and Co-Director of the university’s Centre for Economic History (QUCEH).
I also serve as Associate Director for Outreach and Engagement at the Centre for Economics, Policy and History (CEPH), a Government of Ireland-funded Centre of Excellence linking Queen’s with Trinity College Dublin.
As an Associate Editor at Business History, I have particular responsibility for submissions that employ quantitative methods.
Aside from my research, I conduct pedagogical scholarship on ways to better integrate economic history into the economics curriculum. My edited book, An Economist’s Guide to Economic History (2018), provides accessible historical material that can be incorporated into undergraduate teaching.
I am currently on sabbatical leave from Queen's and based at the Centre for Economic and Social History François Simiand, Paris School of Economics.
Seminar schedule 2026-2027
This autumn, I am taking my new book, After the Union: Ireland Inside the World’s First Industrial Economy, 1801–1901 (co-authored with Eoin McLaughlin), on a seminar tour.
Paris School of Economics
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
Goethe University Frankfurt
Université de Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens
Research news
Applied Economic History
With Johan Fourie, I examine how historical narratives and disciplined comparison can inform policy. And with Andrew Dorman, David Jordan, and Duncan Needham, I study how applied economic history can be operationalised.
Read the first (May 2026 update) · Read the second (QUCEH working paper 26-02)
Patent Examination and Finance
With Stephen Billington and Christopher Coyle, I explore how the introduction of patent examination in the UK in 1905 affected innovative firms’ access to bond markets.
Read the paper (CAGE working paper 767/2025) · Listen to my CEPH podcast interview
Patently Peculiar
With Homer Wagenaar, I examine the unusually discretionary patent system of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, a short-lived post-Napoleonic state encompassing the modern Benelux.
Read the article (forthcoming in Economic History Review, August 2026) · Listen to my CEPH podcast interview
One Century of Terminations
With Abe de Jong, Philip Fliers, and Florian Madertoner, I investigate a century of Dutch corporate terminations to understand why publicly listed corporations fail.
Read the article (Business History, July 2025) · Watch the video abstract
Scarring and Selection
With Matthias Blum and Eoin McLaughlin, I compare the health of cohorts born during the Great Irish Famine with those born immediately before and after, finding selection in the countryside and scarring in the city.
Read the article (Economic History Review, March 2025) · Watch the video abstract · Read the RTÉ News coverage